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Wednesday, June 25, 2003

DVD makes the jump to #1

It's official - DVDs are more popular than VHS. Years after us early adopters stopped buying on VHS, the rest of the country has finally embraced the DVD revolution, scarfing up DVDs and players at a whopping rate. From DVD Talk: In the United States there are now over 50 million set top DVD players. This number is expected to grow to 60 million by years end. When you add other devices which can play DVDs (including PC's, PS2 and X-box) that number jumps up to between 90 and 100 million DVD capable devices. In 2002 there were 1.14 Billion DVDs shipped world wide and the average home bought 15 DVDs. For the first time DVD has overtaken VHS in the rental space. During the week ending June 15, 2003, for the first time ever, more DVDs were rented than VHS videocassettes. According to VSDA VidTrac, 28.2 million DVDs were rented while 27.3 million VHS cassettes were rented. DVD Rental stores also are singing the DVD praises which is now a $9 Billion industry. Old style DVD Rental companies like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video have more to celebrate (though renters won't be crazy to hear this) as 25% of DVD renters are reported to pay late fees at least HALF of the time they rent DVDs and in 2002 Video Rental companies collected an estimated $1 Billion in late fees - yes, that's Billion with a 'B'. The explosion in DVD doesn't end there. DVD is seeing growth into the portable market, into cars, dorm rooms, playrooms and multiple rooms in the home. Twenty-nine percent of US homes now have two or more DVD players. Barreling full steam ahead DVD is expected to continue to have 'double digit growth' from now until 2007.

Guess the Movie Quote #2 - Winner!!! Congratulations to Nathaniel Winegar, who was the first to correctly identify the movie quote as from the stunning, almost tear-inducing final reel of "The Usual Suspects." Also, congratulations to Moe Assad, who also got it right: "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." Now, I challenge you to send in some of your own and see if you can stump me! I'll post Movie Quote #3 soon.